MERRICK MEDICAL CENTER

Merrick Medical Center has been named as one of the Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals in the United States for 2020. The Chartis Center for Rural Health announced its Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) in February at the National Rural Health Association’s Rural Health Policy Institute conference in Washington, D.C.

There are approximately 1,350 CAHs, making Merrick Medical Center among the top 7 percent of overall performers.

The listings are based on the Hospital Strength Index, which uses 50 independent performance indicators relevant to rural hospitals to assess performance. The previous year, Merrick Medical Center also was a Top 20 CAH for Quality.

“It’s so exciting to see our hospital get this type of national recognition,” says Dr. Brian Buhlke, a physician who practices at Merrick Medical Center.

“We all want Merrick Medical Center to be known as a place that provides great medical care and fantastic service, and we work really hard to deliver both every day. It’s what our patients deserve.” n

Merrick Medical Center reached another milestone on the way to making the dream of a new medi cal center in Central City a reality.

On August 26, 2019, an anonymous donor challenged Merrick Medical Center — raise $450,000 by September 30, 2019, and the donor would match it.

“The challenge really sparked our community to act,” says Sam Krug of the Merrick Medical Center Foundation Board. “It gave us incredible momentum almost instantly. We are really grateful for that anony mous donor.”

By the deadline, the Foundation had received more than $543,000 in gifts and pledges — surpassing the challenge by more than $93,000! With the matching funds, the grand total was $993,000, taking the campaign past its $5 million goal.

“It was a communitywide effort,” says Merrick Medical Center Board Chairman Raymond Huggett. “City and county leaders, business owners, charitable foundations and

Dr. Blake Cover, Dr. Brian Buhlke, Dr. Traci Dieckmann and Dr. Nathan Krug enthusiastically thank supporters of the new medical center and look forward to its construction. members of our community as well as for mer residents pulled together to help reach our goal. We couldn’t be more grateful.”

Dr. Traci Dieckmann adds, “I’m so thankful for the community’s ongoing support. Thanks to the many generous donors, our dream of a new facility in Central City is about to become a reality.”

An excavation team started clearing the

land for the new Merrick Medical Center in April. As a training exercise, the Central City Volunteer Fire Department performed a controlled burn of a house on the property, then the rest of the site has been cleared for the Dinsdale Health Campus site.

Merrick Medical Center leaders, medical providers and staff are working with architects to complete drawings for the new hospital. “We are so excited to be on the door step of construction,” Foundation Director Kendra Jefferson says. “But we are not going to stop here — we want our new facility to have everything needed to promote well ness in our community for generations to come. Having the continued support of our community is vital to make this possible.”

A ground-breaking ceremony and formal recognition of donors is being planned.

Want to know more about this exciting project? Please call Foundation Director Kendra Jefferson at 308-946-5975 or Kaye Jesske at 402-481-8139 . n